Vanquis

Vanquis provides credit cards to people with a poor credit history, and to those who usually get declined by mainstream lenders. Vanquis credit cards are currently promoted as having a representative APR of 39.9% (variable) – which means it is expensive to borrow on these cards. Vanquis Bank Limited is authorised to lend by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Vanquis is a part of Provident Financial plc (a FTSE 250 company). In 2021, Provident announced that it was withdrawing from its doorstep lending after 140 years – although it would continue to operate its profitable credit card division, Vanquis Bank.

Experience shows us that the initial decision to give a Vanquis credit card may not be an irresponsible lending decision. Typically, the initial credit limit upon the account being opened may be relatively low – perhaps £500. But it is often when Vanquis starts to increase the credit limit that the credit can potentially become unaffordable. An example Vanquis credit card case is referenced below, where the Ombudsman instructed redress to be paid after the irresponsible credit limit increase:

‘I believe the credit limit increase to £3,000 in January 2016 was unaffordable. This made Mr G’s ability to manage financially on a fixed income much worse. To put things right Vanquis need to refund all interest and charges applied to Mr G’s account after his credit limit was increased to £3,000.’ (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN6147698.pdf).

Before agreeing a credit limit increase, like all credit card companies, Vanquis Bank needs to carry out proportionate affordability checks. These checks should include monitoring the way the Vanquis card has been used up to that point. In the below case, Vanquis failed to take into account that the card was being used for excessive gambling – and that this would mean the credit was not likely to be sustainable for the customer:

‘In circumstances such as this, it would be expected by this service that Vanquis would have recognised the potential damage that increasing Mrs B’s credit limit, and therefore potentially further facilitating Mrs B’s possible gambling addiction, could have caused. But I can’t see that Vanquis did consider that here, even though they had charged Mrs B for gambling transactions a total of ten times between the account opening and the first credit limit increase in July 2016.’ (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-2810873.pdf)

Allegiant has extensive experience of making claims against Vanquis cards, and we will happily assist you with your claim.

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